64. Tessie Castillo: Accountability

64. Volume: Tessie Castillo: Accountability

It’s one thing to explore tough subjects, and it’s entirely another to dedicate your career to them. But once you’re aware of unfairness in the world, at what point do you have the responsibility to do something about it? We all need to take accountability for our actions. But we also need to hold people in power accountable for their part in injustices.

This is The Psychology of Entrepreneurship,

I’m Ronsley Vaz. This uniquely produced audio docuseries follows me, and my guests from all walks of life. We examine world events and break down the reactions and responses to them from business-minded people. Then, together we go inside and unravel the inner workings of the mind of entrepreneurs, artists, athletes and academics. Our goal is to answer the question, “What is the psychology of our decisions?”.

If you are an entrepreneur or would like to explore the entrepreneurial mindset, this is the podcast for you.

Tessie Castillo dedicates her career to telling stories that often go unheard.Quote: Before getting involved in this kind of work, I thought the people that go to death row were the worst of the worst, that they had committed the worst of the murders. But one thing that I found that really shocked me was that that’s not true.

Tessie is a journalist, author and public speaker specialising in criminal justice, drug policy, prison reform and racial equity. Her first book, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row is co-authored with four men currently on Death Row in North Carolina’s Central Prison. She met these men while volunteering at the prison, teaching a writing class in 2014. Tessie was struck by the humility, wisdom and accountability of the prisoners on death row, which in turn shifted her writing in a new direction.

The four men who co-authored the book mentioned above with Tessie are Michael, J. Braxton, Lyle May, Terry Robinson and George Wilkerson. I had the amazing opportunity to speak with three of them, which if you have listened to our three previous volumes, you know. In this volume, Tessie takes us back to the class she volunteered to teach in 2014, which started this amazing journey.

Like most of us, Tessie had some preconceived ideas of what the death row inmates would be like. In her words, she was expecting to walk into a room filled with “the worst of the worst”. Instead, she was captivated by the humanity surrounding her. In this volume, we explore the responsibility we all have to be accountable for not only our actions but our thoughts and ideas. Accountability does not just apply to someone being charged with a crime and living with those consequences. It also applies to being held accountable for how our views and beliefs affect others.

Also within this volume:
  • The fascinating story of Tessie’s first day teaching death row prisoners
  • The instability of the warden system
  • The horrible truth of executions
  • Why having a good lawyer is the difference between life and death
  • Purpose beyond punishment
Links & Resources:

Tessie’s Website

Tessie on Instagram

Crimson’s Letters Book

Crimson Letter Book Club 

Donate to help spread the word

The Death Penalty on Psychology of Entrepreneurship Volume 60

Lyle May on Psychology of Entrepreneurship Volume 61

Michael Jerome Braxton on Psychology of Entrepreneurship Volume 62

Terry Robinson on Psychology of Entrepreneurship Volume 63

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Author: Ronsley Vaz

Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.

He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.

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